Orange Lake Units for Exchangers--Part II

[suekap]

You were right about being put in the new area, thank you.

My family had a great time except, they preferred the older pools to the new river island ones. My sons are older and like to ability to walk around to various places. They were not able to because the resort was so big. I think the tennis villas would have been the best location for my family.

 

[JLB]

I appreciated those who have helped others know what to expect when they exchange into OLCC.

For those who would like to continue to help those contemplating an exchange to this resort, this thread is being moved here:

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=64770#post64770


Thanks again to everyone.

 

[gjw007]

Deleted - this is duplicated when I thought I was editing it.

 

[gjw007]

Deleted - this was duplicated when I thought I was editing it.

 

[gjw007]

You were right about being put in the new area, thank you.

My family had a great time except, they preferred the older pools to the new river island ones. My sons are older and like to ability to walk around to various places. They were not able to because the resort was so big. I think the tennis villas would have been the best location for my family.

Sue;

Good to hear that you had a great time. I own at River Island but I really like the Olympic-size pool. When I was there in May, I spent time at River Island but I also spent time in the Olympic-sized pool in the West Village. I think OLCC needs to build one in the River Island complex. It would provide a nice balance .

There are 23 shuttles that are suppose to be by every 20 minutes that can take people to various places in the resort. I haven't used them so I don't know how reliable they are but I have seen them around the resort - it is just easier for me to get into my car .

 

[suekap]

We also used our car, it was easier. My boys used the shuttle one day to go to splash lagoon and said there wasn't a long wait. If we ever stay there again, I think I would like to get into the tennis villas, very convenient. The river island rooms were gorgeous and the kitchen area was big. Alot of room for all of use to move around in.

 

[tsl]

My experience......

well all I can say is that OL has ADA units, and all one has to do is call the resort ahead of time and inform them they are traveling with a disabled individual who needs an ADA unit. One will definitely be supplied, unless all those units have already been requested. Then the ressie dept will inform the caller that the ADA inventory has already been allocated.

So the exchanger will know in advance what to expect.

At the time we had exchanged into OL, I was undergoing physical therapy for a neck injury which ultimately resulted in 2 cervical surgeries (another story). My only request to OL was a whirlpool tub so I could soak. I told them about the PT. I called several times over a two week period prior to check in as well as made my request at check in. We were in the old West units which I understand are the only units that don't have the whirlpool tubs. The helpful staff told me to walk 2 blocks to the pool in our area to use the public hot tub which was broken most of the week. (Did I mention it was December and cold??) To add insult to injury, the previous people smoked in the room and there were people in our party with pretty severe allergies to smoke. Again, the response from OL was that it was a "true" timeshare and they would not restrict what owners do in the units. The customer service was the absolute worst we have experienced in 10 years of timesharing. I called RCI and was told there was nothing it could do b/c this was all within the control of OL.

As for like weeks being traded, I used one of my best CA traders for this trade. I had a ton of choices on this trade and I picked OL. The problem is OL has one exchange code when it should have many due to the differences in the rooms and room amenities. For example, if you go to a Marriott (as well as many other resorts), all the units are the same quality with the same amenities. The view and location in the resort may vary, but the inside of the unit does not (assuming there is not an ongoing refurbishment). This is not the case with OL. It is many different resorts sharing common amenities. The quality of the room and the amenities in the rooms vary greatly. As an exchanger, I would feel more comfortable if I knew what part of OL I was trading into. When I traded, I got downgraded from what I gave up which was a major disappointment and none of my requests---including medical--were met. In fairness to OL, there were many wonderful units that I was hoping to have been assigned. If I knew I were exchanging into one of those units, I would gladly exchange one of my best weeks for OL. The problem is you just don't know. I won't take that risk again. As TUG members, we all post reviews so we know what to expect when we trade. OL and a few others put the gamble back into the game. With limited vacation time and the expense of travel, I do not like to gamble.

JMHO

 

[timetraveler]

tsl...your right about limited time for vacations, and life is stressful enough without spending a week in a nightmare vacation!

I don't know what time of year you traveled to OL, possibly all the units with jacuzzi's had already been requested by owners. And as far as the smoking....OH I HATED THAT TOO! I'm so happy as of Jan, 2006 our resort became smoke free.

Now I guess you will always find a few that totally disregard rules, feeling they don't have to comply with rules, but OL clearly states that if upon cleaning...if they detect smoke, the guests credit card on file WILL be charged a fee to clean the unit of smoke. And it's a pretty hefty fee.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Vickie, that is a pretty iffy thing, charging a card for a smoke smell when the units may have just been closed up and smell from previous years of smoking. The vents could have smoke in them, too. The resort just changed the rule recently, and smoke sticks to everything. I should know, my parents smoked and you cannot even open one of their dictionaries without having the smell hit you like a ton of bricks.

When we were on Kauai at The Shearwater last month, the neighbors smoked on the lanai every morning, noon and night. There were four of them. Well, our unit was oceanview,oceanfront, so the wind was blowing it right into all of the neighboring units. We woke to the smell of smoke in the morning. I would hate to think that PAHIO would bill us for a cleaning fee when they walked into clean, because our neighbors' check-in day was two days later. The smell was in our unit every day.

It would be risky to accuse people of smoking in the unit, when they can smoke outside, anywhere. The breezes just carry it inside.

I am glad timeshare resorts are starting to understand the problems that smoking is causing everyone. Good for OLCC!

 

[timetraveler]

While lingering stale smoke could be a factor Cindy, the units that have been gutted since January would certainly not have any of that, as they are new from the concrete floor up.

The outdoor lanai's should play no role in letting smoke from the outside saturate the inside of the unit. Unless the individual stood at the door deliberately blowing every puff into the living room. And I don't see that as logical.

I detest the smell of smoke, and would be able to tell in a nan o second, if the family exiting that morning had been puffing away in the unit the entire week. hmmmmm....we need a "barf" icon added to the smiles list!

To a non smoker the odor is so overwhelming to the senses, that it gives them (us) close to bloodhound sensitivity!

 

[gjw007]

If I understand tsl's situation, he arrived during a very busy week, around Xmas, making it difficult to exchange rooms and just before OLCC implemented the no-smoking policy. I have read some complaints about people after the policy has been implemnted of being charged $250 to clean the room because smoke smell has been detected, so the resort is taking some steps. I don't smoke but I have been in some units (not at OLCC) where the smoke smell has been really bad and I can appreciate going to a standard of no smoking units. In some of these units, nothing short of replacing everything (bed, curtains, carpeting, etc) will be enough to eliminate the smell.

OLCC should have been able to put tsl into a unit with a whirlpool tub though especially since the resort was informed about the medical reasons for it several times before arriving but I can also understand that it is one of the busiest weeks in the year making it more difficult to meet that request. Even in the West Village there are some golf villas (the unit that I have stayed at in Cypress Circle had a regular-size tub with whirlpool jets) have them and all of the 2- and 3-bedrooms units have them (I believe) in the Tennis Villas (oversized tubs). It would be an interesting statistic to see how many of OLCC owner's normally show up for that week as a very high percentage would make getting units with the whirlpool tubs even more difficult.

In a somewhat unrelated topic, until this year there were more units in the West Village than the other villages combined making (and this year with the opening of the River Island units there is only slighly more in the other areas combined than there is in West Village but not by much) it more likely to be exchanged into the West Village than any other area of OLCC. Even before OLCC implemented its current policy, it was more likely to get units in the West Village than any other section. The odds were always high of getting units in the West Village just giving the number of units as a percentage of the total units at the resort.

 

[tsl]

If I understand tsl's situation, he arrived during a very busy week, around Xmas, making it difficult to exchange rooms and just before OLCC implemented the no-smoking policy. I have read some complaints about people after the policy has been implemnted of being charged $250 to clean the room because smoke smell has been detected, so the resort is taking some steps. I don't smoke but I have been in some units (not at OLCC) where the smoke smell has been really bad and I can appreciate going to a standard of no smoking units. In some of these units, nothing short of replacing everything (bed, curtains, carpeting, etc) will be enough to eliminate the smell.

OLCC should have been able to put tsl into a unit with a whirlpool tub though especially since the resort was informed about the medical reasons for it several times before arriving but I can also understand that it is one of the busiest weeks in the year making it more difficult to meet that request. Even in the West Village there are some golf villas (the unit that I have stayed at in Cypress Circle had a regular-size tub with whirlpool jets) have them and all of the 2- and 3-bedrooms units have them (I believe) in the Tennis Villas (oversized tubs). It would be an interesting statistic to see how many of OLCC owner's normally show up for that week as a very high percentage would make getting units with the whirlpool tubs even more difficult.

In a somewhat unrelated topic, until this year there were more units in the West Village than the other villages combined making (and this year with the opening of the River Island units there is only slighly more in the other areas combined than there is in West Village but not by much) it more likely to be exchanged into the West Village than any other area of OLCC. Even before OLCC implemented its current policy, it was more likely to get units in the West Village than any other section. The odds were always high of getting units in the West Village just giving the number of units as a percentage of the total units at the resort.

Agreed and it was week 52 BUT I traded a GREAT resort 4th of July week. I gave up Hilton, Marriott and Vistana for OL. So I gave a big deposit. The most disturbing thing is that the West Village just isn't as nice--units and pools in the immediate area--as the rest of the complex. In fact, the West units standing alone probably don't rank Gold Crown. As such, why would anyone want to risk trading a good property for Orange Lake to be put in the old section which is not as nice as Marriott, Hilton, Cypress Pointe and most other consistent resorts in Orlando?? If all exchangers get the West units, I appreciate the upfront information. But if the goal is to do "like for like" exchanges but place the exchangers in the worst part of the resort, it seems to me that nobody will be trading anything into OL except their weakest traders. What will that do for the external trade power of OL?? Also, the West units were a drive to the newer resort pools. That's a hassle. The shuttle every 20 minutes wasn't the solution either. If it were every 10 minutes like Atlantis, that is workable.

This resort may be great for owners who own in a desirable section but it is not desirable as a trade b/c you are gambling with what you will receive. If OL is doing internal points for owners, it seems that the resort recognizes that parts are not desirable. They should do the same for exchanges. The West units should be a weak trade while the better truly Gold Crown units should be a tougher trade. This can't be hard. Look at Westin. Everytime they build a new phase, it is a new resort code even when the entire property is similar quality. If I were an owner at OL and I paid to be in the newer section with more amenities, I would want more trade power than the owner who bought in the lower price less desirable West section. Is the new OL policy to place the less desirable inventory owners in the newer sections and the exchangers in the West? If so, doesn't that dilute the trade power for all? To call all inventory the same at this resort is just not right. For that reason, I won't trade back to this resort again unless I can ensure placement in the better units.

JMHO

 

[rickandcindy23]

OLCC now has a special policy for exchangers:

Exchangers will always be in the older units.

Yes, we learned our lesson about Orange Lake and will probably have our son use the resort every three years. He has not stayed there yet, but he and his friends are going October 20th and are getting a three bedroom. I guess they are nicer and are more of a guarantee of quality, so I feel good about that. The guys (a bunch of firemen and policemen) really are not going to spend much time at Disney and feel that River Island will be something they can do when Universal gets boring. They were going to go over Labor Day week and one of the guys "had" to get married. He was scheduled to get married next summer but the wedding was moved up.

I warned Josh that the units are not as nice as some of the others, but he thinks the place looks fantastic and he has no use for a jetted tub, anyway.

Our unit was #2624. Which unit number were you in? Did it have turquoise tiles? I guess the newer ones have off-white tiles. Were there hair dryers in the units? Ours lacked that amenity and I had packed light, so I had to "borrow" one from the front desk.

Here is a link to my description of our experience at OLCC. It is an old thread and my first post is on page 2. I had no idea my opinion was going to rile others, so ignore the posts that are not friendly.

http://www.tug1.net/tugbbs1/Forum11/HTML/005445-2.html

 

[tsl]

No worries. If and when I pull OL with my South African unit and the total cost is about $400 for the whole exchange, the West isn't bad. More than $400 for the West is NOT a good deal. :annoyed:

Sorry but I bet everyone can tell that I am not pleased to have traded my tiger deposit for the West unit next to the loud highway, smell of smoke and no soaking tub..... When we checked in, hubby said "what did you trade for this??"

The trade b/f OL for my deposit the previous year was a holiday week in a 2 BD ocean front unit at Morritt's Grand..............................:whoopie:

 

[gjw007]

tsl

With week 52 being so busy, where was OLCC suppose to move you to if the resort was full? I disagree that the West Village units aren't nice. I like the West Village units that I have stayed in. OLCC has been a Gold Crown resort since 1992 when the program was started. This was before the Tennis Villas (hirise) in the West Village were built (1996/1997), before the North Village (1999/2000), before the East Village (2002), and before River Island (2006). It wasn't the newer areas that made OLCC a Gold Crown. But I also understand that when you look at OLCC's webpage and see pictures of the units, that is what you expect and the golf villas do have a different layout. One thing that would make the West Village golf villas better is if there were an oversized whirlpool tub in the bathroom as many people like to use them on vacation and seems to be a common comment. The units layouts are different, not worse. I've never had a problem staying in the golf villas and I have no problem staying in them in the future.

 

[rickandcindy23]

When there are so many choices in Orlando, getting a unit that is not really GC quality is very disappointing. Of course, RCI is not really to blame because they do not have separate codes for OLCC units. I also think there should be separate codes, many resorts have those. With Vistana, you could have requested a Lakes or Cascades unit. I had no idea that I could even do that and was disappointed in our unit in Fountains.

The Hiltons are great! I love Cypress Pointe as well. There are so many others that you can count on for quality. You are right, it is a gamble at OLCC. Some people get the River Island units now. One exchanger or renter, I cannot remember how she got the week, actually was assigned to the newest and best. But the older section of OLCC is very large, so if lots of owners are there, they will get the better units in the West Village.

Was your unit in a high rise?

 

[timetraveler]

When Gold Crown was instituted, the ONLY thing OL had was golf villas. Like Gary, I own in the west village, so does my brother, as well as other villages. We stay in the west village every year. Along with other areas of the resort.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I guess I missed that you were in a golf villa. Those are being refurbished right now, is my understanding. A refurbished one would be just fine, unless there is no large whirlpool in the new units. If I could get a newly refurbished unit as one of my 7,500 point trades, I would not care if the tub is a large whirlpool. Or maybe I would not even risk it, because I could go elsewhere for 7,500 points. :whoopie: :whoopie:

 

[timetraveler]

One exchanger or renter, I cannot remember how she got the week, actually was assigned to the newest and best.

I believe that was Suekap. She was there on an "owner referral". Owner referrals are place in RI. And even though she was in the newest OL has to offer, once there she said her family would have preferred the West village. Her boys liked the older pools better and the BB court.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Gold Crown has been redefined in the last ten or so years. We had this discussion at an owners' meeting at Val Chatelle a few years ago. Many owners were very upset that our resort was no longer considered Gold Crown. Our resort has a giant hot tub on every deck that is checked every day for proper chemicals. We have other amenities that are not at other resorts (like individual heated garages), but alas, no swimming pool because the resort is at 9,000+ feet. Winter weather happens about ten months of the year. When Val Chatelle was brand new in 1985, we were the best there was in Colorado, but times have changed and our resort has slipped to Silver Crown.

 

[Miss Marty]

Question

Has anyone seen or stayed in the new
Orange Lake Country Club River Island
4-bedroom & 4-bath Luxury Penthouse?

 

[timeos2]

One code for units built over 20 years isn't right

When Gold Crown was instituted, the ONLY thing OL had was golf villas. Like Gary, I own in the west village, so does my brother, as well as other villages. We stay in the west village every year. Along with other areas of the resort.

The point is those units may have been GC when they were all there was on site - they were new - but now, if they had a code of their own as they should, they would have to get serious upgrades to keep the GC. So today they are piggy backing off the newer units that most exchange guests don't get to be ranked higher than they should be. OL is one of the few big resorts that don't have separate codes for the various unit designs. That seems to be a choice made to help maintain an overall ranking for areas that should be downgraded. It leads to the unexpected and unpleasant surprises mentioned above. Why risk it?

 

[gjw007]

Has anyone seen or stayed in the new
Orange Lake Country Club River Island
4-bedroom & 4-bath Luxury Penthouse?

No but I have stayed in the 2-bedroom unit. It is probably the best layout at OLCC as it provides the larger living/kitchen/dining room layout of the West Village unit that I like with the master bedroom and the larger master bathroom of the East/North Village that I like.

 

[timetraveler]

I guess Gary and I don't consider it a risk, John. Or we wouldn't stay in the West village every year. And now that the golf villas are receiving even higher end furnishings and appliances than are in the tennis villas and North Village and East Village, they are as nice as any other TS property I've stayed at.

And I'm quite spoiled with regards to Gold Crown. I have stayed in many resorts that have a gold crown rating, and they have virtually nothing on the property other than the building my unit is in.

When your (meaning my) standard is the like's of OL, and you go out into the TS world, you feel like.....is this it? Where's all the stuff????

 

[tsl]

West units

We were not in the Golf Villas. We were in the the first row of multi-story units right as you entered the property. They were dated and you could hear all the traffic noise every night. The pool was about a 1 block from unit and it had no features except for the broken hot tub.

We did drive over to the newer section and the pools were very nice. The units looked wonderful. But again, it was a pain to drive the kids around to the pools.

I am not knocking the West units if they were graded as they truly are and had a separate code so as an exchanger, I knew what I would be getting. But to look at the website and the reviews about the new units is misleading. The West is not Gold Crown. Maybe 20 years ago it was, but I couldn't tell that anything had been done to upgrade that section to the same quality as the rest of the resort. I have stayed in non-Gold Crown resorts but I researched them on TUG and the web and knew exactly what I was getting. For those exchanges either the location or the week were more important. I have never been disappointed and we enjoyed each trip. The trip to OL was a major disappointment. I think that is because we were led to believe we would getting a different unit and location. I had no understanding of how many phases there were at OL and how different they were until we checked in and it was too late. The other resorts we had visited were much more consistent.